Peter Pan is a fictional character created byScottish novelist and playwrightJ. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, he spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythical island ofNeverland as the leader of theLost Boys, interacting withfairies,pirates,mermaids,Native Americans, and occasionally ordinary children from the world outside Neverland.
Peter Pan has become a cultural icon symbolising youthful innocence andescapism. In addition to two distinct works by Barrie,The Little White Bird (1902, with chapters 13–18 published inPeter Pan in Kensington Gardens in 1906), and theWest End stage playPeter Pan; or, The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up (1904, which expanded into the 1911 novelPeter and Wendy), the character has been featured in a variety of media and merchandise, both adapting and expanding on Barrie's works. These include several films, television series and many other works.
Barrie commissioned astatue of Peter Pan by the sculptorGeorge Frampton, which was erected overnight inKensington Gardens on 30 April 1912 as a surprise to the children of London.[1] Six other statues have been cast from the original mould and displayed around the world. In 2002, he featured on aseries of UK postage stamps issued by theRoyal Mail on the centenary of Barrie's creation of the character.[2]
Barrie gifted the copyright to the Peter Pan works toGreat Ormond Street Children’s Hospital in 1929. Whilst the works are now in the public domain, the hospital maintains the right to collect royalties from adaptations in the United Kingdom thanks to a special amendment to theCopyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988.[3]
Peter Pan first appeared as a character in Barrie'sThe Little White Bird (1902), a novel for adults. In chapters 13–18, titled "Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens", Peter is a seven-day-old baby and has flown from his nursery toKensington Gardens in London, where the fairies and birds taught him to fly. He is described as "betwixt-and-between" a boy and a bird. Barrie returned to the character of Peter Pan, putting him at the centre of hisstage play titledPeter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, which premiered on 27 December 1904 at theDuke of York's Theatre in London.[4] Following the success of the 1904 play, Barrie's publishers,Hodder and Stoughton, extracted the Peter Pan chapters ofThe Little White Bird and published them in 1906 under the titlePeter Pan in Kensington Gardens, with the addition of illustrations byArthur Rackham.[5] Barrie later adapted and expanded the 1904 play's storyline as anovel, which was published in 1911 asPeter and Wendy.
J. M. Barrie may have based the character on his older brother, David, who died in an ice-skating accident the day before his 14th birthday. His mother and brother thought of him as forever a boy.[6] A later inspiration was his friendship with theLlewelyn Davies boys, as described in Barrie's Dedication to the first edition of the play: "I suppose I always knew that I made Peter by rubbing the five of you violently together, as savages with two sticks produced a flame. That is all he is, the spark I got from you."[7]
Barrie never described Peter's appearance in detail, even in his novel, leaving it to the imagination of the reader and the interpretation of anyone adapting the character. In the play, Peter's outfit is made of autumnleaves andcobwebs. In the book and the play, he also carries adagger for cutting and asword for fighting, although in some versions he only has one of the two.[8] His name and playing theflute orpan pipes suggest that he is based on the Greek god and mythological characterPan. Barrie mentions inPeter and Wendy that Peter Pan still had all his "first teeth".[9] He describes him as a "lovely boy, clad in skeleton leaves and the juices that ooze out of trees".[9] InThe Little White Bird (1902) andPeter Pan in Kensington Gardens (1906), he is seven days old.[10]
Traditionally, the character has beenplayed on stage by a female actor, but can also be played by a male actor.[11] In the original productions in the UK, Peter Pan's costume was a reddish tunic and dark green tights, such as that worn byNina Boucicault in 1904. This costume is exhibited at Barrie's Birthplace.[12] The similar costume worn byPauline Chase (who played the role from 1906 to 1913) is displayed in theMuseum of London. Early editions of adaptations of the story also depict a red costume[13][14] but a green costume (whether or not made of leaves) becomes more usual from the 1920s,[15] and more so later after the release of Disney's animated movie.
In the Disney films, Peter wears an outfit that consists of a short-sleeved green tunic and tights apparently made of cloth, and a cap with a red feather in it. He has pointedelf-like ears, brown eyes, and reddish hair.
InHook (1991), the character is played as an adult byRobin Williams, with blue eyes and dark brown hair; in flashbacks to him in his youth, his hair is light brown. His ears appear pointed only when he is Peter Pan, not as Peter Banning. His Pan attire resembles the Disney outfit (minus the cap) and he wields agold bladedsword.
In the live-action2003Peter Pan film, he is portrayed byJeremy Sumpter, with blond hair, green eyes, bare feet and a costume made of leaves and vines.
In the prequel to the main story2015Pan film, he is portrayed byLevi Miller, a young boy who was left as a baby by the orphanage until he gets captured by Blackbeard's pirates and taken to Neverland. Here he wears just simple clothes.
Peter is an exaggerated stereotype of a boastful and careless boy. He claims greatness, even when such claims are questionable (such as congratulating himself when Wendy re-attaches his shadow). In the play and book, Peter symbolises the selfishness of childhood, and is portrayed as being forgetful and self-centred.
Peter has a nonchalant, devil-may-care attitude, and is fearlessly cocky when it comes to putting himself in danger. Barrie writes that when Peter thought he was going to die on Marooners' Rock, he felt scared, yet he felt only one shudder. With this blithe attitude, he says, "To die will be an awfully big adventure." In the play, the unseen and unnamed narrator ponders what might have been if Peter had stayed with Wendy, so that his cry might have become, "To live would be an awfully big adventure!", "but he can never quite get the hang of it".[16]
Peter's archetypal quality is his unending youth. InPeter and Wendy, it is explained that Peter must forget his own adventures and what he learns about the world in order to stay childlike.
Peter's ability to fly is explained, but inconsistently. InThe Little White Bird, he is able to fly because he is said to be part bird, like all babies. In the play and novel, he teaches the Darling children to fly using a combination of "lovely wonderful thoughts" and fairy dust. In Barrie's Dedication to the playPeter Pan, The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow up,[17] the author attributes the idea of fairy dust being necessary for flight to practical needs:
...after the first production I had to add something to the play at the request of parents (who thus showed that they thought me the responsible person) about no one being able to fly until the fairy dust had been blown on him; so many children having gone home and tried it from their beds and needed surgical attention. – J. M. Barrie
Peter has an effect on the whole of Neverland and its inhabitants when he is there. Barrie states that although Neverland appears different to every child, the island "wakes up" when Peter returns from his trip to London. In the chapter "The Mermaids' Lagoon" in the bookPeter and Wendy, Barrie writes that there is almost nothing that Peter cannot do. He is a skilledswordsman, rivalling even Captain Hook, whose hand he cut off in a duel. He has remarkably keen vision and hearing. He is skilled in mimicry, copying the voice of Hook and the ticking of the clock in the crocodile.
Peter has the ability to imagine things into existence and he is able to sense danger when it is near.
InPeter and Wendy, Barrie states that the Peter Pan legend Mrs. Darling heard as a child, was that when children died, he accompanied them part of the way to their destination so they would not be frightened.
In the original play, Peter states that no one must ever touch him (though he does not know why). The stage directions specify that no one does so throughout the play. Wendy approaches Peter to give him a "kiss" (thimble), but is prevented byTinker Bell. However,John Caird andTrevor Nunn's introduction to the script for the 1997Royal National Theatre production, states that this was never Barrie's original intention, and was only added for a production in 1927, whereJean Forbes-Robertson took the title role, and played the part with a lighter, more fairy-like, physicality. Robertson was to play the part almost every year until 1939.
Peter Pan is a free spirit, being too young to be burdened with the effects of education or to have an adult appreciation of moral responsibility. As a "betwixt-and-between", who can fly and speak the language of fairies and birds, Peter is part animal and part human. According to psychologistRosalind Ridley, by comparing Peter's behaviour to adults and to other animals, Barrie raises many post-Darwinian questions about the origins of human nature and behaviour. As "the boy who wouldn't grow up", Peter exhibits many aspects of the stages ofcognitive development seen in children and can be regarded as Barrie's memory of himself as a child, being both charmingly childlike and childishlysolipsistic.[18]
Peter Pan ran away from his parents when he was a baby as told inPeter Pan in Kensington Gardens andPeter and Wendy. Finding the window closed and seeing a new baby boy in the house when he returned some time later, he believed his parents no longer wanted him and never came back. This younger sibling is referred to in the chapter "Lock-Out Time" inPeter Pan in Kensington Gardens but is not mentioned again.
While in Kensington Gardens, Peter meets a lost girl named Maimie Mannering and the two quickly become friends. Peter proposes marriage to Maimie. While Maimie wants to stay in the Gardens with Peter, she comes to realise that her mother is so worried that she must return to her. Maimie promises to always remember Peter and goes back to her mother. When Maimie grows up, she continues to think of Peter, dedicating presents and letters to him. To remember Maimie, Peter rides the imaginary goat that Maimie created for him. She is considered to be the literary predecessor ofWendy Darling.[19]
It is hinted that Wendy may have romantic feelings for Peter, but unrequited because of his inability to love.
In the original novel, Peter later befriends Wendy's daughter Jane (and her subsequent daughter Margaret), and it is implied that this pattern will go on forever. From time to time, Peter visits the real world, and befriends children. Wendy Darling, whom he recruited to be his "mother", is the most significant of them; he also brings her brothersJohn andMichael to Neverland at her request. It is mentioned that Wendy was the only girl who captured his attention.
In the 1991 filmHook, an older Wendy implies that she used to (and perhaps, still does) have feelings for Peter, saying that she was shocked that he did not prevent her wedding day. In the 2002 sequel to the1953 Disney film,Return to Neverland, Peter and a grown-up Wendy are briefly, but happily, reunited after many years and continue to show feelings for each other. In the 2003 filmPeter Pan, the feeling is mutual. Captain Hook can only take away Peter's ability to fly by thoughts of Wendy leaving him, growing up, and replacing him with a husband. Wendy saves Peter by giving him her hidden kiss which gives him the will to live, signifying she is his true love. In some versions, he marries her or her granddaughter Moira.
John is the middle child of the Darlings, and plays father and mother with Wendy. On the Neverland, he serves as the boldest of the Lost Boys and the only one who is not entirely convinced by Peter's games. "'Do be more polite to him,' Wendy whispered to John...'Then tell him to stop showing off,' said John."[20] Michael, the youngest of the Darlings, is the least prepared for the bloodthirsty life on the Neverland. When Michael kills a pirate in Act V, Wendy is mortified because he is so happy about it.[16]Peter Pan In Scarlet reveals that Michael died in World War I.
The parents of Wendy, John and Michael. Mr. Darling works as a clerk in theCity, and is named after George Llewelyn Davies. Mrs. Darling is named after Mary Ansell, Barrie's wife.
Tiger Lily is the daughter of Great Big Little Panther, the chief of theNative American tribe that resides in Neverland. Barrie refers to her as "a princess in her own right", and she is often described as such. She is kidnapped by the pirates and left to die on Marooners' Rock but is rescued by Peter. It is hinted later that she may have romantic feelings for Peter but he does not return them, as he is completely oblivious to other people's feelings. In the Disney film, Tiger Lily shows her gratitude by performing a dance for Peter and kissing him. The kiss makes him turn bright red and makes Wendy jealous of Tiger Lily.
Tinker Bell is a common fairy who is Peter Pan's best friend and is often jealously protective of him. He nicknames her "Tink". She is the friend who helps him in his escapades. Tink's malicious actions are usually caused by her jealousy; these lead to the Lost Boys shooting arrows at Wendy, and eventually revealing Peter's hideout to Captain Hook, in the hope that Wendy will be captured rather than Peter. When Tink realises her serious mistake, she risks her own life by drinking the poison Hook has left for Peter. Her extreme loyalty and dedication to Peter are everlasting.
Peter is the leader of the Lost Boys, which include Tootles, Nibs, Slightly, Curly, and The Twins. The Lost Boys is a band of boys who were lost by their parents after they "fall out of theirperambulators" and came to live in Neverland. In Barrie's novelPeter and Wendy (but not the original playPeter Pan), it is stated that Peter "thins them out" when they start to grow up.
In the song "I Won't Grow Up" fromthe 1954 musical, the boys sing "I will stay a boy forever", to which Peter replies "And be banished if I don't".
InPeter Pan in Scarlet (2006), the official sequel to Barrie'sPeter and Wendy, what happens to the Lost Boys when they begin to grow up is revealed when Slightly starts to grow older, as Peter banishes him to Nowhereland (which means that he and all his allies will ignore the banished person's existence), the home of all the Long Lost Boys whom Peter has banished in times past.
The crocodile is Captain Hook'snemesis. After Peter Pan cut off Captain Hook's hand in a fight and threw it into the sea, the crocodile swallowed it and got a taste for Hook, so it now seeks to consume him whole. It also swallowed a ticking clock, which alerts Hook of its presence.
Captain Hook, whose right hand was cut off in a duel, is Peter Pan's arch-enemy who leads a large group ofpirates. Captain Hook's two principal fears arethe sight of his own blood (which is supposedly an unnatural colour) and onesaltwater crocodile. His name plays on theiron hook that replaced his hand cut off by Peter Pan and eaten by the aforementioned crocodile, which continues to pursue Hook. In the 1991 filmHook Captain Hook kidnaps the children of Peter Banning (the adoptive identity of Peter Pan) when he left Neverland to grow up and married Moira Darling (the granddaughter of Wendy Darling) with whom he would have the two children whom Hook would kidnap: Maggie and Jack. Hook in this film is also shown to question his existence due to the fact Banning/Pan has been away from Neverland so long, to the point that he does not remember anything when he first returns to Neverland. At Smee's suggestion, Hook conjures up a plan to defeat Peter Pan by having his own children turn against him. Although Maggie is never swayed by this plan, Jack initially sides with the pirates due to the prior broken promises of his father. However, upon realising that his father is Peter Pan, Jack has a change of heart and betrays Hook, who is defeated and eaten by a crocodile.
Mr. Smee isCaptain Hook'sboatswain ("bo'sun") and right-hand man inJ. M. Barrie's playPeter Pan and the novelPeter and Wendy. Mr. Smee is Captain Hook's direct confidant. Unlike the other pirates, Smee is often clumsy and incapable of capturing any of the Lost Boys. Rather than engaging in Hook's evil schemes, Smee finds excitement in bagging loot and treasures.
Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up (1904 play), a play in which Peter brings Wendy and her brothers to Neverland, where he has a showdown with hisnemesis,Captain Hook. Barrie adapted this play as a novel; numerous variations and other adaptations have been produced in various media
When Wendy Grew Up – An Afterthought (1908), Barrie's sequel play
Peter and Wendy (1911), a novel Barrie adapted from the 1904 play, later republished asPeter Pan and Wendy; it also incorporates events of Barrie's sequel play,When Wendy Grew Up – An Afterthought (1908)
In 2023, Disney releasedPeter Pan & Wendy, a live-action reimagining of the 1953 Disney animated film, with Peter Pan being portrayed byAlexander Molony.[25]
In 2025, Peter Pan appeared inPeter Pan's Neverland Nightmare as the main antagonist.[26] Peter Pan is similar to theGrabber fromThe Black Phone, as a masked killer who goes after children (with the director listing the movie as one of the biggest inspirations).[27] The plot centers aroundWendy's search for her brother Michael, who has been abducted by Peter Pan andTinker Bell.[28][29]
In the early 1930s,Edward Mason Eggleston painted a series of images for calendars that included Peter Pan, Native American princesses and pirates
J. R. R. Tolkien's biographerHumphrey Carpenter has speculated that Tolkien's impressions of a 1910 production of Barrie'sPeter Pan in Birmingham "may have had a little to do with" his original conception of theElves of Middle Earth[30]
Game author Diana Gaeta developed aDungeons & Dragons campaign setting namedNeverland - The Impossible Island that allows players to interact with Peter Pan in an environment based onPeter and Wendy byJ. M. Barrie[33]
Fiction writerJonathan Green published arole-playing gamebook titledNeverland: Here Be Monsters! in which Peter Pan appears as a playable character. This version's background story attributes his flight ability and eternal youth tocybernetic implants installed by his genius father after Peter was severely injured by one of the dinosaurs roaming Neverland.[34]
Peter Pan appears inDisney Villains' Revenge, voiced primarily byMichael Welch and byKevin Schon as an adult.[23]
Todd Rundgren recorded Never Never Land from the 1954 production with Mary Martin, written by Betty Comden, Adolph Green and Jule Styne. From Todd's 1973 album A Wizard, A True Star.
Canadian singer-songwriterRuth B. released the piano ballad "Lost Boy" in 2015, featuring Peter Pan and Neverland, and inspired by the character's appearance inOnce Upon a Time
Italian songwriterEdoardo Bennato released a concept album "Sono solo canzonette" in 1980 based on Peter Pan and other characters created by Barrie. Eventually created a musical named "Peter Pan" using his songs.
Swiss singerPaola del Medico performed a song themed on the Peter Pan tale in 1982
Pop-rock musiciansThe Jonas Brothers' song "Fly With Me" makes direct references to Peter Pan and Wendy in the lyrics
Country singer-songwriterKelsea Ballerini released a top-charting country single and song titled"Peter Pan", in 2016
South Korean boy-bandBTS released a music video called "Adult Child", the song makes reference to the Peter Pan story
British musicianKate Bush included her song "In Search of Peter Pan" on her second albumLionheart (1978). Another song on the same album, "Oh England My Lionheart", makes direct reference to Peter Pan in the lyrics
Korean boy-bandEXO released a track called "Peter Pan" on both the Mandarin and Korean versions of the albumXOXO (2013)
Serbian and Yugoslav rock bandPetar Pan was named after the character
Peterpan is the former name for an Indonesian pop-rock band, now calledNoah
The eleventh track of singer-songwriterTroye Sivan's debut studio albumBlue Neighbourhood (2015) is titled "Lost Boy", inspired by Peter Pan
InChance The Rapper's song 'Same Drugs', featured in the album Coloring Book (2015), he makes multiple references to Peter Pan and Wendy, another major character in the novel
Blues/psychedelic rock bandKula Shaker included the track "Peter Pan RIP" featured in their fourth albumPilgrims Progress
Italian singer-songwriterUltimo named his second albumPeter Pan (2018). It contains the song “Peter Pan (Vuoi Volare Con Me?)”, meaning "will you fly with me?"
Finnish symphonic metal bandNightwish make references to Peter Pan in some of their songs, notably Fantasmic from their 2000 albumWishmaster, and in their 2011 singleStorytime from their seventh albumImaginaerum
South Korean girl-group(G)I-DLE released a track called "Peter Pan" (Korean: 어린 어른;RR:eorin eoreun; translation: Young Adult) on their sixth EP "I Feel" (2023)
British singerMaisie Peters has a song called "Wendy" on her 2023 albumThe Good Witch (album), which references Wendy’s and Peter’s relationship
In the early 1960s, some Cuban families sent their children to resettle in Miami in an emergency effort calculated to save the children from perceived potential mistreatment under theCastro socialist regime; the program was calledOperation Peter Pan (orOperación Pedro Pan)
American psychologist Dr. Dan Kiley popularised thePeter Pan syndrome (puer aeternus) in his bookThe Peter Pan Syndrome: Men Who Have Never Grown Up (1983).[35] He described individuals (usually male) with underdeveloped maturity.[36] His next book,The Wendy Dilemma (1984), advises women romantically involved with "Peter Pans" how to improve their relationships[37]
Barrie commissioned a statue of Peter Pan by the sculptorGeorge Frampton, which was erected overnight inKensington Gardens on 30 April 1912 as aMay Day surprise to the children of London. Seven statues have been cast from the original mould.[38] The other six are located in:
In 1949, a statue of Peter Pan byAlex Proudfoot RSA, Principal ofGlasgow School of Art, was erected at the Mearnskirk Hospital for children in Glasgow, commissioned by Alfred Ellsworth in memory of his friend Dr John A Wilson, first superintendent of Mearnskirk Hospital. Wilson had also been a school friend of J.M. Barrie's[47]
A statue byIvan Mitford-Barberton was commissioned by Vyvyan and Gwen Watson in remembrance of their son Peter and given in 1959 to the Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital in Western Cape, South Africa[48]
A pair of statues by Cecil Thomas, one showing Peter Pan and Tinker Bell, and the other Wendy and the Darling children, have been located inDunedin Botanic Gardens in Dunedin, New Zealand since the 1960s.[49] A slightly different version of the Peter Pan statue, also by Thomas, can be found close toRotokawau Virginia Lake inWhanganui, New Zealand[50]
A bronze statue by Alistair Smart, originally commissioned by the Angus Milling Company in 1972, is situated in the main square ofKirriemuir, Scotland.[51]
In 1976, Ronald Thomason sculpted a bronze statue in front of theWeatherford, Texas public library honouring Weatherford nativeMary Martin, who had portrayed Peter Pan in the 1954Broadway musical production and several subsequent telecasts
^Francis Donkin Bedford died in 1954 and his works are in copyright until 2024 in Europe. If this work is not "work for hire" then it is fair use.
^Green, Roger Lancelyn (1954). Fifty Years of Peter Pan. Peter Davies Publishing
^abcdef"Peter Pan Voices". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved28 April 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
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